 and we are navigating the journey. And as you know, everybody, everywhere is talking about the Hulona Bards and the do's and the don'ts and the wash your hands and all. However, however, most people don't talk about, all they say is that seniors, people like me, the, what you call these people, the, what am I talking about here? White hair. People with white hair. They talk about me and oh, we got to do this from seniors and seniors and seniors. Let me tell you. I'm 82. So everybody my age went through the Depression, World War II. But we know about this. This is familiar. We're in familiar territory. We remember that food was rationed. We remember that we had curfews and that you had to pull down the curtains at a certain time. But as child, and then we didn't have television. We didn't have computers and all the gadgets. But the thing is my age understands they know they survive. They know they got through it. However, today, we are going to talk to a specialist, Martha Copeland, who is, as you know, she's a friend. She's been on the show before. Martha is a specialist and what she's going to talk to us today about the things that seniors need to plan for, not the victims of, the plans for to get through this time. So Martha, welcome. I am always happy to have Martha on the show. I love her. Thank you, Marcia. Thank you so much for having me on the show today. I am so excited about being able to share this information. But I think we'll definitely help people in your age group that you mentioned or any age group actually, because many of us love and see and care for our parents, our grandparents, who may be of a certain age. But I just want to just comment. I didn't live through those times that you did where you said, you know, we will make it. But I did hear stories from my grandparents and they did tell me about rationing and long lines. But everybody, I believe, drew closer together and there was much, much more sharing and people who had a lot of sympathy and for one another. So anyway, with that, I'm hoping to share some interesting things to help people during this crisis to understand there are some new programs that have been approved to help people who have Medicare and Medicaid. Tell us in Medicare and Medicaid. So many of you get confused. So what is Medicare? Absolutely. Medicare is the insurance program that if you've been working and contributing by paying your social security taxes or your Medicare taxes, when you reach that magical age of 65 or any age with certain disabilities, you qualify for Medicare insurance. It's a government insurance. It's managed by the federal government and it consists of a couple of different parts that take care of your hospital, your medical doctor visits and your prescription drugs. Medicaid, on the other hand, is different. That's if you happen to have income that has fallen to a certain level and then you qualify for help with your insurance from whatever state you may live in according to the programs they provide. So Medicaid is from the state. Correct. And you've been paying into your Medicare taxes for your Medicare insurance and most people don't know this, but if you work for about 30, 35 years, it's easily you've contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars. And Medicaid, of course, is funded through taxpayer dollars. From the state. Yes. Okay. All right, so now that we have new plans, that's how it's about the new plans. Right. So what I'm so excited to talk about is a lot of people are sharing that, you know, we need to wash hands and we need to, you know, use a disinfectant and things like that. But people aren't really, and I'm so happy to report that I've heard that many stores are allowing the seniors, people 60 and over to go early and shop so they don't have to be, you know, possibly around people who may be carriers of the virus, which I think is wonderful really making our stores, you know, kapuna friendly as they try to avoid contracting this virus. But there's some other things that I think have not been spoken about. What if you happen to be the caretaker for a loved one that's over 60 and they need to go to the doctor on a regular basis? If you're supposed to avoid going out, how can you do that? Well, Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, they have some emergency powers that just went into place. So the very first one, this is an interesting one. Doctors do not need to be licensed in your state to provide services. Doctors do not need to be like that. Telemedicine, but not just telemedicine. Telemedicine is, you know, where you can see a doctor using the telephone or your smart device or an iPad or laptop or desktop. But typically you are restricted when you have insurance to use maybe doctors in a particular service area. So by allowing doctors who are not even licensed in your state to provide services, that allows you to have more access to doctors. So not just maybe doctors that would be available to you who are just licensed in the state of Hawaii, right? So maybe I want a doctor over at Stanford in California. So anyway, it looks like this ruling, doctors do not need to be licensed in your state to provide services. This is opening up more providers to be able to take care of us because you can only imagine how if phone lines get tied up, if you can't reach one of the telemedicine doctors, well, that's great that Medicare and Medicaid will cover telemedicine. But what about access to doctors? So by lifting the rule that doctors need to be licensed in your home state, that's thrown out the window. So hopefully this will give more access. But I think that's astounding. I can't imagine that being lifted, right? That is wonderful. Yes, and it's absolutely wonderful. And then Marsha, this is another one I get all the time. People tell me, oh, Marsha, when I transition to Medicare, I don't think doctors like to take Medicare. Nobody will take me. I can't find a doctor. So another emergency ruling from Medicare, doctors who may have been enrolled as Medicare doctors, but decided whatever reason not to take Medicare or to let their registration last. They are allowing them to immediately, immediately re-enroll for the temporary authorization to be able to bill Medicare for services. They're also waiving the application fee. Normally somebody has to do a site visit. They're waiving the site visit. They're waiving the application fee. And on a temporary basis, they will re-enroll that doctor or medical provider into the Medicare program so they can bill. Now, okay. Let's do this really slowly. This is important. This is very important. Let's do that again. Now, okay, if I say, Marsha, my doctor that I like doesn't take Medicare, so what do I do? So if that doctor is willing, that doctor can apply for temporary authorization to be able to bill Medicare without the normal credentialing process which includes an application fee, a site visit, and I'll also say criminal check. But all of that is waived and that doctor will be able to get a temporary authorization to bill Medicare. Okay. So does the doctor know that or do I have to tell him that? This is all brand new. I think you might have to tell the doctor because this is brand new. But if they were to check, they would find out that this is in place. This is an emergency measure specifically for folks who are on Medicare. Wonderful. Great. Oh, that's so fabulous. And it doesn't stop there. Oh, this is just, I'm so excited. I don't know if it's going through, but I'm so excited. Durable medical equipment. Durable medical equipment. That's your wheelchairs, your walkers, your canes, things that you need, maybe a hospital bed, things that you can normally get with your doctor's prescription through durable medical equipment providers. Normally, if you need to replace something, if it's been lost, if it's been destroyed, if it's worn out, you have to go through a couple of hoops to get the replacement. So what the guidance is from Medicare to durable medical equipment providers is you still need an explanation of why the person needs it replaced. But because we are eliminating or eliminating face-to-face, that was a requirement for certain things. So they're waiving the requirement for there to be a face-to-face interaction with that durable medical equipment provider in order to replace that equipment. So again, if you need a replacement, something's worn out, they want you to feel free to contact the durable medical equipment provider, and you still have to have an explanation as to what happened to this particular device you used. But the durable medical equipment providers are being told go ahead and provide it. Don't require the person to come down and do a face-to-face and explain. So I think that's huge. That is wonderful. That is exciting. That is huge. But there's more. I'm so happy. There's so much negative news and there's so many people who are panicking. And I guess the news constantly is making us more panicky. I have people calling me. I'm generally very calm. I'm starting to get panicky. Because this is really exciting. This is really exciting. My panic is not I just have faith. I'm concerned about people trying to go to get this COVID-19 test and they wait for hours and then are turned away. That's what I'm trying to tell people please make sure you check before you do that because I don't want people to get more run into another problem trying to get something that might not be available to them because there's only so many tests that are provided each day. Anyway, but I talk about why, real quick, why just because I'm old doesn't mean that I need to get a test. So why should, what's as a senior just because they're scaring us as a senior? Why should I get a test if I'm fine? I don't have the snipples. I don't have a fever. I've had all my pneumonia shots. All of the things. Do I still have to go be tested? Well, exactly. I think that people are believing that they want to rule out whether or not they have it, but the bottom line is even if you were tested you still have to practice washing your hands, not traveling, not taking cruises. Even if you find out you are positive, if you don't have any symptoms there'll be not a whole lot for you to do. So I think it's more important for people to understand if you wait on a line for three hours and you get turned away, did you put yourself in harm's way where maybe there was no harm. We don't want to do more harm to ourselves by panicking and thinking that we have to do something that may not be necessary. We are hearing that a number of basketball players are testing positive, not showing symptoms but testing positive. So they just have to sit and wait. So you seek care when you have a temperature, a shortness of breath, a dry cough. There are specific things that you need to do. Now just so everyone knows if you haven't heard, the temperature that you need in order to, along with the other symptoms for your doctor to be able to order a test for you is 99.6. Why am I pointing this out? Yes they did drop it, it was a hundred and something. I had a friend and she stood on line for four hours and her temperature was 99.4 so she didn't get the test. So 99.6 and it changes all the time but 99.6. Okay. So very important. Should I call first before I go? Should I call? Absolutely. Do my regular doctor or to urgent care which has to drive through? Absolutely. You have to call first because you can go if you show up without an order, no one has prescribed it. As far as I know, there's no way you'll be tested if you just say I want to test. It's not working that way so it's very important to reach out to a provider. That's why I'm so excited about the telemedicine. If you're able to Medicare says they'll pay so if you're able to get a physician through telemedicine then you may be able to get an order for a test and then you still have to call but at least you show up with the doctor's prescriptions for ordering the COVID-19 test for you. Okay. So you might have a doctor's prescription or okay to get the test done. Correct. You can't just show up. Correct. The doctor has some doctor has to say I think that you may be this would be good for you. Even if it's a doctor if you show up and you're able to see be seen so yes even if it's not your own doctor the doctor decides that you should have the test you know you have the test but it's not you deciding that you want the test. That's not how it's going to work. Yeah. Okay. You got to have symptoms and you got to have a professional triage you and make that determination. So the other thing that I'm really super super excited about. Okay. We already talked about the doctors do not need to be licensed in the state there's a way for them to get a temporary authorization to build Medicare if they're not a Medicare provider. So this next one is a real doozy. Normally when you are are needing skilled nursing care skilled nursing care skilled nursing facility that means you need things that are medically necessary but you don't need to be in the hospital. Normally a requirement is you need to be in the hospital for three days. They are waiving that requirement. What? Yes. Because I think you had a friend who was in a situation like that. Right. And this has been waived as a result of COVID-19. So this is all new stuff. That's why it's important to know and important to talk to your provider in case they're so busy with other things. They don't know these new things that have come down from CMS. And then I got to tell you, Marcia, a benefit of all times that I can't even believe this one. I have it in writing. So if anybody wants to contact you to get it, we can get it to them. But if you're normally let me tell you how let me first tell you how Medicare skilled nursing facility benefits work. Well, first of all again, you don't determine if you need skilled nursing facility. This is a doctor who has determined that you need things that are medically necessary, but you don't need to be in the hospital. So Medicare typically covers 100 days per benefit period. So a skilled nursing facility benefit doesn't go on forever and ever. It's 100 days. Okay. 100 days if you have original Medicare and even in many Medicare Advantage plans. Some other plans will give you a couple more days, but 100 days is the Medicare benefit. Now, if you exhaust those 100 days 101 you're out of pocket if you still need to stay at skilled nursing. And how do I know this is true? Marcia, I have a doctor right now. Her husband exhausted his 100 skilled nursing facility for 60 consecutive days. She thought he needed more. She's paying 22,000 a month because he exhausted his days. So how do you get a new Medicare benefit period? Well, after you have been in skilled nursing for 100 days you need to be discharged or pay on your own, but to get that benefit to reset you have to be discharged from a skilled nursing facility for 60 consecutive days. 60 consecutive days. And then, prior to this new change I just mentioned you normally would need to be in the hospital again for three days before you get that new benefit period. But as a result of again, Medicare and Medicaid I'm so impressed with these emergency measures specifically for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries if you have recently exhausted your skilled nursing facility benefit they are going to allow you to start a new benefit period without the wait. Oh, great. So you don't have to move. You don't have to be discharged. You don't have to move. So the reason I was so excited about today is because people are talking about if you have a mask wear a mask, get you disinfectant, wash your hands but what about a loved one that's in a skilled nursing facility and they're coming up on their 100th day you've been told that your loved one must be discharged or you pay 100% not allowed. It's being waived. It's being waived. So they are allowing a new benefit period but because our and I got to tell you we've got to all be very thankful for our frontline healthcare professionals, social workers, everyone we have to be so thankful for them but they have been so deep in the trenches they may not know about these rules so if anybody does run into a problem they hit up against the wall, their person is being discharged the midst of this whole COVID-19 crisis now they can go back and say check the rule Medicare just introduced an emergency measure that the benefits don't exhaust at 100 days you will continue to allow them to have a new benefit period of 100 days again it has to be now is this online so I'm sorry is this online so everybody they say well I heard Martha say so is this online that they can download it, walk in with it in their hands? Absolutely I know it almost sounds too good to be true you should have seen me reading it but it's on the CNS Center for Medicare and Medicaid it's on the CMS website so it's called COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Healthcare Providers Fact Sheet COVID-19 Emergency Declaration That is fabulous It is just so fabulous This is wonderful because the people in this category my sober tsunami category have paid into this system for years absolutely years and to be paralyzed at this age is cool Yes and especially during this crisis everybody's speaking to things that who's speaking to people who has a loved one about to be up against the 100 day benefit period under Medicare for skill nursing what about somebody who has a worn out wheelchair so look at these things that they can get now so with knowledge comes power so they have the power to get our loved ones these very vital services at such a time as this This is really fabulous I'm so excited to talk to you now these are new but tell us about the old things the things that we should know and probably have forgotten and that's about being at home What do screeners need to think about for in my daughter or whatever It makes more than you are taking care of at home The main thing and it's the reason that I'm coming to you I had a trip to Kauai and I live on Oahu However, if I return home because I need to take a flight after I left for Kauai both my husband and daughter were told by their companies that if I come home they have to self quarantine and they cannot go to work so who would even think that those kinds of things can happen so it's very important for a kupuna like if one of your adult children were to fly in to take care of you it's a really good idea that they quarantine themselves even if it's the same household for 14 days because you don't want them who may have been exposed to exposing you to COVID-19 because even if they don't have any symptoms they still could be carrying so what you want to do we want our loved ones, we love them we want people to come to help us out but make sure you quarantine for 14 days and you can quarantine in the home you just make sure that you're not using the common bathroom and some of the common rooms just for 14 days and then if the person has just traveled from the other side of the island then they are telling us of course in Hawaii we want to hug each other and we want to touch but we are really being told to try to stay at least 6 feet apart one of the things we do is called aloha and we touch and we feel and we share and that's just who we are so this is difficult yes this is difficult now this is one of the things I'm going to add here so I'm going to need your help Dr. Aarj who I have absolutely taken says we should walk in the sun and get the vitamin D so yes so now if I am a care giver and I need to take this person out so that they get the vitamin D in the sun for 15 minutes whatever now as the care giver what are my responsibilities in being sure that I'm not bringing anything in and out right we don't know there's still a lot of unknowns but what is a really good idea is when you go out change your clothes and put them in the wash right away and then take a shower and if you're responsible for someone bathe them when they've been on the outside there's also new guidance in terms of how long the virus can last on plastic on metal so those are the guidelines that you can look at too but it's my understanding that we should also not just wash our hands but wash our clothes when we come in from the outside but I do believe I'm not a healthcare professional I do think the sun is a good thing and I hope there's some sun in Kauai soon but now we have rain but I just I have faith because one of the reasons I think and I'm not a professional either but I think that certain climates are not as affected by this virus you look at the world map and you'll see them there's a virus and it's because we get sun right there's certain areas on that map, the world map which is scary as hell and you look at all the places that are affected but there's certain most of them in the Caribbean island and us are not heavily impacted and I think it has to do with vitamin D the very real possibility and that is a measure that I was low a few years back so my healthcare professional told me up my vitamin D and I did so we have it naturally the sun is natural yes the sun is natural now I need to make an appointment to go tomorrow morning at 5 o'clock to who they are 5 to 6 a.m. tomorrow morning especially the weekend now when and other here people boarding but what about medications for seniors that are shut in about I heard one place delivers medicine do they really need to stop up for 90 days can they just do a regular seniors should do the 90 days they should reach out to have their doctor call for an emergency for a mail order so they can either get through the mail or get it delivered absolutely you should do the medications for 90 days and a couple reasons we don't know that we're going to start to see shortages of medication so it's not so much that you want your hoarding or you think this won't resolve even if it resolved in a month there may be shortages and you mentioned when you started the show that I remember is the oil shortage in the 70s but I don't go back before that so what if there's shortages so if you get your medication again we want to keep everybody calm and at peace so we don't want people finding out that maybe their medication is on back order and not available so I encourage people definitely take advantage of that 90 day supply so you can ask to have it mailed to you or they deliver somehow certain pharmacies deliver and then certain insurance plans will put you on the mail order and that will be delivered during the mail and I even have had people who have a medication that needs to be kept cold or at a certain temperature and they have special trucks that arrive with the medicine in temperature controlled trucks is what I'm trying to say so I encourage people to take advantage of all of those things absolutely well is there anything in your mind any special new thing that we absolutely need to know that we need to repeat so people really understand in the few minutes we have left you know Marcia I think that people should remember to continue to hydrate understanding that a dry mouth is not good for any kind of virus that you should hydrate make sure you're drinking your fluids make sure that you're blushing this stuff out make sure you're breathing deeply be calm take the deep breaths so you can expel anything that might not belong just try to expel it out of your system and I believe in prayer so I've been sending prayers to folks letting them know that there's a you know you can like you said at the beginning this too shall pass we'll get through this hopefully we'll find that we have friends that we never knew we had and some people we thought we could count on might not be well enough to take care of us so we may find ourselves with new friends and I'm thankful Marcia thank you for allowing me to be on the show today I really wanted to give this information to my ohama well this is a real pleasure to have this and I am I've got to give kudos to ATEC all day all of the shows have been dedicated to the coronavirus and different aspects and so this is a very special part because I haven't heard anybody talk about in depth about this and especially about the new things that Medicare and Medicaid are doing and instead they're scaring old folks there so I'm glad that you put it at ease making seniors feel cherished and wanted because we have come a long way across the miles you know so this is wonderful absolutely wonderful thank you thank you so much for spending this time with us and of course we'll come back because we always have more to talk about this thing is moving so fast yes it is worldwide pandemic is moving so fast by the time next week we'll have something new to talk about yes and my eyes on the prize I'm keeping track of everything for our Medicare and Medicaid community listen before we go do you have a contact number that you would like to give out so people can call you sure I have a toll free number that people can call because I'm getting a lot of calls that number is 800 226 3660 that's 800 226 3660 and I will call people back my receptionist takes the call and I call back wonderful and so you are so easy to talk to so they shouldn't be afraid to call you no I love this stuff it actually makes my day I have an opportunity to share anything about Medicare and Medicaid that can make people's lives easier it makes my day so it made our me smile yes and that makes it all the distance in the world when you pick up the phone to call somebody and you don't know where you're going and what you're doing and to hear a pleasant voice on the other end makes all the difference in the world exactly and that's what I love it's just conversational it's just friends we're just friends yes so we have one minute left so repeat the contact number please sure people can reach me at 800 226 3660 that's 800 226 3660 Martha thank you as always it's a pleasure spending this time with you stay dry over there in Kauai we just got sun over here so you know I hope to do that soon aloha aloha and we will see you next time stay safe